Obama won by a landslide, 3 states legalized gay marriage by voting for the first time in American history, and in another historic win 2 states legalized marijuana. Does this signal a major shift to the left in US politics. Clearly, the American people have rejected the GOP and their radical agenda. Democratic wins can no longer be attributed to the hatred of Bush. Many people said that ANY democrat would have won in 2008, but what's their excuse this time around? One news network said that the majority of Millennials has now voted democrat twice and likely will never vote GOP in their lifetime, meanwhile the baby boomers will slowly be losing influence over the years. I hope this change is permanent and i have a strong feeling that it is...

Maybe a little bit, but America naturally becomes more and more progressive. I think it looks like America moved left more than it did because the 2010 election was mostly a misrepresentation of America.

Obama won by a landslide, 3 states legalized gay marriage by voting for the first time in American history, and in another historic win 2 states legalized marijuana. Does this signal a major shift to the left in US politics. Clearly, the American people have rejected the GOP and their radical agenda. Democratic wins can no longer be attributed to the hatred of Bush. Many people said that ANY democrat would have won in 2008, but what's their excuse this time around? One news network said that the majority of Millennials has now voted democrat twice and likely will never vote GOP in their lifetime, meanwhile the baby boomers will slowly be losing influence over the years. I hope this change is permanent and i have a strong feeling that it is...

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Obama only won popular vote by 2 million, I wouldn't exactly call that a landslide, even though the electoral college system makes it seem that way.

I think you are going to see Republicans hunker down for the next four years and come back to win the presidency under the same platform in 2016. Im not sure Romney is going to be leading the ticket though.

Democrats weren't given a majority in the senate and they are still down in the house. With billions spent on mud slinging from both sides it's going to be an awkward day at the office. I doubt there is going to be much working together over the next 4 years.

Historically, it seems that US politics has all moved to the right a bit. The GOP has definitely moved to the far right but overall, it seems as if we are in center, center-right or right politics.

If you believe that we should have a small government, then you'd think that we would not want to not interfere in things such as marijuana usage (which probably costs us way more in trying to control) or same sex marriage. I don't particularly see those as leftist moves myself.

I think we will see Republicans become more moderate especially in areas such as immigration and personal freedoms.

I was intrigued by what I saw at the DNC. In it you had two camps; one side wanted Israel and God on the platform and the other wanted them off. It seemed to be that the latter was the stronger side. The Democratic leadership wisely opted for the former, however. The understood that the latter group was firmly locked in while the former were still in play to some extent. The Republicans haven't seemed to grasp this. In many ways, they are still pandering to the far right instead trying to entice the moderates.

Historically, it seems that US politics has all moved to the right a bit. The GOP has definitely moved to the far right but overall, it seems as if we are in center, center-right or right politics.

If you believe that we should have a small government, then you'd think that we would not want to not interfere in things such as marijuana usage (which probably costs us way more in trying to control) or same sex marriage. I don't particularly see those as leftist moves myself.

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The far right has, unfortunately, intertwined religion into their agenda. Without that I am pretty sure they could have taken the presidency.

Obama won by a landslide, 3 states legalized gay marriage by voting for the first time in American history, and in another historic win 2 states legalized marijuana. Does this signal a major shift to the left in US politics. Clearly, the American people have rejected the GOP and their radical agenda. Democratic wins can no longer be attributed to the hatred of Bush. Many people said that ANY democrat would have won in 2008, but what's their excuse this time around? One news network said that the majority of Millennials has now voted democrat twice and likely will never vote GOP in their lifetime, meanwhile the baby boomers will slowly be losing influence over the years. I hope this change is permanent and i have a strong feeling that it is...

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Yes. America is moving to the left. More and more people in the US are looking to the government for salvation (nor religious pun intended) and have the thought process of what is in it for me. When I was a teacher I fought against a bond that would increase teacher pay, and was not thought of highly by other teachers, but the bond was good only for one group and that was the teachers. I had to look past myself and realize this was not good for our community. It is hard as individuals to look at things this way, but i feel we must, or socialism will be in our future.

Historically, it seems that US politics has all moved to the right a bit. The GOP has definitely moved to the far right but overall, it seems as if we are in center, center-right or right politics.

If you believe that we should have a small government, then you'd think that we would not want to not interfere in things such as marijuana usage (which probably costs us way more in trying to control) or same sex marriage. I don't particularly see those as leftist moves myself.

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This is why you would never see a Ron Paul receive the GOP nomination although he was probably much more "electable" that Romney.

Democrats weren't given a majority in the senate and they are still down in the house. With billions spent on mud slinging from both sides it's going to be an awkward day at the office. I doubt there is going to be much working together over the next 4 years.

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Democrats were given a majority in the senate (it is looking like 55/45 but worst case it is 53/47)

Democrats were given a majority in the senate (it is looking like 55/45 but worst case it is 53/47)

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I meant super majority (ie. 2008), my mistake as I didn't specify. They have to get Republicans on board, and that is going to be a tough job after you just got off a string of calling them idiots before/during/after the election.

Republicans just have to vote No for four more years, and since they were voted back in, it seems that is what the public might want.

It seems that with each election, the Republican party becomes more detached from the mainstream. Gay people and gay marriage is increasingly accepted, abortion rights have been decided decades ago, and people want fairness in tax policy.

I would love to see a Republican presidential candidate who didn't pander to religious extremists and the "no compromise" Tea Party crowd. I honestly believe that at certain points, a business oriented, Republican president might be the best leader for the country. Self reliance and opportunity are good things and its too bad its always drowned out.

However, I'm happy that Obama has been re-elected and look forward to 4 more years with his administration. After that, we'll see.

Depends on how these laws play out in practice. As long as they don't affect/create interstate commerce, the federal government has little influence there. The commerce clause is only an effective weapon when it affects interstate commerce in a meaningful way. It's not a worthy cause to go after. There are bigger fish to fry and the DOJ also has other issues to deal with.

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There has already been a SCOTUS decision on the issue of medical marijuana being grown by an individual for that individual's use. The Court held that even in a situation like that, interstate commerce was affected, and therefore regulation was proper. Here's a wiki on point.

Immigration. What Obama started with the DREAM Act needs to be moved forward, however, we also need to tackle the flipside of preventing further influx of illegal immigrants. A fence won't do it. What needs to be done is stricter controls on businesses and individuals and severe punishments for those that employ undocumented workers. As someone else pointed out, it's not fair to blame those that come here to make a living, but it is tantamount that we make examples of those companies and individuals that destroy job markets for citizens to save a buck.

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I think that it sucks in many parts of our country that we have built a reliance on a workforce consisting of underpaid undocumented workers. They are taken advantage of and the businesses profit. I think we need another amnesty, we need to keep businesses accountable and a huge, expensive wall isn't going to fix our issues with illegal immigrants.

Pretty much staying in place. If the Democrats had taken control of the House, that would have been different. Note, though, that Mourdock and Akin lost, and Elizabeth Warren won. Overall, the ultra-right was pushed back a bit, although it is still strong in the House. Overall, a further lurch to the right was avoided. Unfortunately, though, I am still considered Liberal instead of the Moderate that I used to be.

Are you drunk? This was an exceptionally tight race. Obama won reelection due to one or two key battleground states, where the voting was 49% vs. 50%. Even the overall popular vote was only 1% or so from a tie. What landslide are you referring to? Go put some more air in your inflatable Obama love doll, it's getting low from last night.

To answer the broader question, no America has not been turning left, but the voter turnout has been, at least over the past 15 years or so. This election should be a case study in how pop-culture and the media is used to sway public opinion, particularly in the under-25 demographic. This age group is so inexperienced, uneducated, and easily coerced, and prior to the 90's, didn't have much of an interest in politics. Anyone who works in Marketing can learn a lot from this election.

Another trend one can gather from this new twitter facebook pop-culture atheist homosexual welfare entitlement voting generation, is the decline of America as a whole on the world stage. It is only as this new group of selfish me-me-me voters is getting involved in politics, that we now have to ask the question "Is America really the greatest country on earth still?". Coincidence? I think not.

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